Dan and Steve did it!  Dan beat George Sayler by 974 votes, and Steve unseated John Bruning by 1420.  Neither race was ever close.

Here’s what Dan told the Press: “”I would like to say the public finally got their vote on McEuen Field, and they spoke loud and clear… The council got a new direction.”

Steve said he will focus on a vote for McEuen, reducing the budget and reigning in LCDC, just as he promised in his campaign.

What are your thoughts and feelings this morning?

Is there relevance to the connection, in our local city council race, of a candidate’s support for the U.S. President?  I would say YES, and here’s why:  A few weeks ago, council candidate George Sayler said, at a public forum, that he thinks Obama has been “good for Idaho”.  This statement tells me that George is completely out of touch with the real world of our local economy.

The Obama administration policies, especially banking regulations,  have been terrible for small business and have contributed greatly to the closure of local enterprises, ultimately costing  jobs.  And in the midst of this severe economic downturn nationally, what has the Obama administration focused its time and effort on?…Not helping to create jobs by reducing spending and lowering taxes, which are proven methods to help business investment and jobs.  No, the President used his power, in the midst of a severe recession, to push a massive spending program called Obamacare, (pass it before you read it) which has been another major job killer.  (more…)

The Season of our Discontent
by Jeff Ward, KCRR President

The sight of multi-millionaire propagandist Michael Moore communing with the hippies at Occupy Wall Street conjures up a single word. Hypocrisy.  Hypocrisy of the highest order.  For Mr. Disingenuous to egg on the scions of the eastern wealth to rail against the corporations that provided them with their smart phones, iPads and designer stocking caps would be laughable, if the liberal media wasn’t eating it up and designating the astro-turfed socialist slackers as a leftist equivalent to Tea Party.

Hypocrisy is not only at home among the “99%” but here in the wilderness of North Idaho. Yesterday on a local political blog, Coeur d’Alene’s own liberal Democrat “Yosemite Sam”, City Councilman Mike Kennedy, launched this election’s attack on the Reagan Republicans, Ron Lahr and myself.  Like elections past, Kennedy could not argue with the Reagan Republican-endorsed candidates Dan Gookin and Steve Adams because they are on the right side of the issues and Kennedy is on the wrong side, denying the citizens of Coeur d’Alene the right to vote on McEuen Field, supporting ridiculous pay increases for over-paid bureaucrats and refusing oversight on the LCDC.  No Mr. Kennedy was true to form and attacked the messengers not the message. (more…)

My theme today is Lists: The City’s hit list and my voting list!

Our City has been taking a lot of pot shots lately, at people who question their decisions.  The interesting thing is that the City is not refuting the facts laid out by  the citizens, it is aiming personal attacks at these folks, questioning their character and dedication to our community.   (more…)

Several readers who were unable to attend last week’s presentation, have asked to see the list of CdA City employees making over $100,000.  We detailed the names and job titles in our program, so here it is, there are 19 of them:

1.  Mike Gridley, City Attorney = $125,000

2.  Wendy Gabriel, City Administrator = $123,024

3.  Kenny Gabriel, Fire Chief = $112,005  (more…)

Note:  Two days ago I posted info about the Spokane Journal of Business article about Riverstone, but the links will only let people with subscriptions connect to the article.  This morning we received permission from the Journal to copy and post the article in its entirety. Click on “more”, below, to read the whole thing:

The Regal Cinemas complex is one of three buildings that Riverstone developers have surrendered. —Staff photo by Mike McLean

October 06, 2011
Lender takes part of Riverstone
Trustee sale is scheduled for December; $14 million owed
By Mike McLean
Of the Journal of Business (more…)

In last week’s Journal of Business, the headline, front page story says, “Lender takes part of Riverstone”.  This is a very big story!  The theaters at Riverstone have reverted back to a Seattle-based lender, as well as the buildings on either side of the theaters…including those containing Azteca and the home decor business on one side, and the ice cream shop all the way around the corner to Starbucks on the other.  All of it.

The loan balance is $14 million plus $3,600 in daily interest since Aug. 1…ouch! There will be a Trustee Sale for the properties on Dec. 20 at First American Title in CdA.

Did I miss this in the Press?

There’s so much going on right now with the upcoming elections and next Tuesday’s public presentation on “What You Need to Know Before You Vote”, which starts at 6:30pm at the Senior Center.  Sharon Culbreth, long time local realtor, will be speaking about LCDC, Kathy Sims, our State Representative and owner of CdA Honda will speak about upcoming legislation and I will talk about Taxes, budgets and public salaries.  You won’t believe some of the info I’ve been digging up!  This event is free, so please mark your calendar for this coming Tues. evening.

Any other comments, issues, ideas?

That’s been the rule here in CdA throughout Mayor Bloem’s reign, but the people of New York state’s town of Peekskill are “livid” that their mayor is now imposing the same restriction. They say it demeans them and treats them like kindergarteners. You can read the article on CBS news here.

What do you think?

I was picking apples at Greenbluff with my mother-in-law yesterday. Fall is off and running! The local campaigns for this November and the national races for next year seem to be in high gear. Did you notice the OpenCdA poll on the right side of this page? It asks which current CdA city council member is your favorite. It also has a new category “none of the above”, which should probably read “none of the incumbents”. Are you following local and national politics? What do you think about these or other topics?